Whiteout
by hello heartbreak
Summary: People are after Rukia's life, Ichigo saves her once, and they end up living in the same apartment. — AU, IchiRuki. Chapter 6: Urahara strikes a deal. Ichigo has to take in Hitsugaya & Momo. Ichigo ponders about his reasons for keeping Rukia.
1. Collision

_Author's Notes: Standard Disclaimer applied for every chapter. Bleach belongs to Kubotite, not me. This is a Bleach AU, so additional characteristics may be added to canon characters. I will try my best not to make them OOC. Note: Most of them are a few years older for my convenience. Rated for language. _

---

**Whiteout.  
**_Collision. _

He hated his current job. There were long hours which stretched into the night at times, if business was good. Lately, the bar had become livelier, with a new management and a new name. Not to mention that the new owner had an extremely attractive body, complete with wavy blond hair. But that was beside the point. He hated the job because the pay was low, the hours were erratic, and _no one_ wanted to see a male bartender when Matsumoto Rangiku was available. But then again, he hated the state he was in, he hated his hair, and he hated the fact that he hadn't achieved much in the twenty-one years he'd spent in this world. Overall, Kurosaki Ichigo hated his entire life, from the day he was born to the day he was mixing cocktails for a bunch of perverted old men ogling at his employer, who seemed to enjoy all the attention.

He hated the fact that his father had brought him up single-handedly because his mother had been run over by a car to save _him._ He hated the way nobody blamed him for her death and continued living their fucking lives, as though nothing had happened. But most of all, he hated himself for leaving his family because of some stupid reason he can't remember, and getting himself into all sorts of shit, be it drugs, guns or sex. And ended up with absolutely nothing except the bandaging skills his father (who was a doctor) had taught him at a tender age, and the unusual ability to wield a gun.

Kurosaki Ichigo never would have thought that his bandaging skills would come to use around sixteen years later, and for someone he didn't even know.

---

It'd been one of those late nights with Rangiku calculating the day's profit and chuckling to herself as he stepped out of the bar with his daily pay of a meager ten bucks (depended on the business rate), into the freezing outside. The only difference was, instead of just the occasional meow of a stray cat as he walked down the pavement lined with flickering streetlights, he heard a loud screech of a car turning at a sharp point and a few gunshots, shortly followed by a puny figure plummeting straight into his chest, head first. They dove (or rather, the figure pushed him) into a small, unnoticeable alley, and hid there, not daring to breathe until the sound of many pairs of clicking leather shoes faded away.

The figure turned limp and slumped down onto the ground in front of Ichigo, breathing heavily. Before long, all life had gone out of the body.

---

Once, twice, he contemplated. Sighing and knowing he would kick himself for it later, he picked up the wounded person and made his way to his apartment as inconspicuously as possible.

Lights were turned on; the figure was placed on his bed. He examined the face rather intently, under the light.

The person was a female and a rather good-looking one actually. She wasn't hot like Rangiku with her overwhelming assets, but her pale face lined with dark features had a certain quality to it, which made Ichigo want to just keep on staring, on and on. Tangled but somewhat shiny jet black hair lay as a curtain on his white bedsheets, creating a stark contrast in colours. Her limbs were small but seemed strong enough, despite the fact that they were bleeding in the moment.

Dust was blown off the first aid kit, and Ichigo set to work. He grimaced as he thought of the grueling process of scrubbing the blood off his white sheets; nevertheless, he tried his best to dress her wounds properly, just as his father had instructed him to do. Then came the more embarrassing task, in which he was made to peel off her soiled clothing in order to bandage her upper torso.

The entire process took around two to three hours, and by the time he was done, sweat was beginning to form on his brow. Tiredly, he collapsed onto the bed, taking care to leave a space of at least 10 centimeters between the female and himself.

It was amusing, really, how the two of them woke up at approximately the same time, the space that Ichigo had taken care to leave clearly bridged. In simple terms, it meant that he had his arms around her waist and their noses were almost touching.

---

For a girl of her size, she sure had strong lungs. He was definite that the entire block of apartments had heard her screech.

When she had somewhat regained her composure, she began tugging at the shirt and shorts she was currently swimming in, and scowled at him with all the venom she could manage. Clearly, she wasn't happy about him changing her clothes for her.

"I didn't see anything," Ichigo mumbled, still half asleep.

A quick movement and he found himself on the floor.

"Fuck you," she spat, reaching for the gun she usually kept strapped onto her thigh, which he had so unfortunately removed.

"No thanks," he replied, rubbing the cheek that she had just slapped. "That stung," he added, rubbing more vigorously.

"Good," the girl said, scanning the room for her weapon and clothing, finding only a clump of bloody cotton and denim in the bin.

"You should treat your savior with more care and respect," he retorted, pulling the gun out of under his pillow and waving it in front of her face. She snatched it away a little less violently than intended. Savior? She looked down at her neatly bandaged wounds. Savior indeed.

It was at that moment that Ichigo's ever-so-friendly neighbor from next door decided to pay a visit to see what the din was about.

"Ichii!" yelled a shrill voice as a pink _thing_ bounded into the room (his door had been left unlocked) and crashed into the orange-haired male, grinning rather maliciously (in his opinion).

"Bad, bad Ichii is bringing women back to his house," the pink thing which turned out to be a hyperactive kid said, eyeing the astonished female, who was currently pointing her gun at Ichigo.

"Ken-chan would find this amusing!" the kid yelled as Ichigo pushed her out of his apartment and locked the door. There'd been enough noise for a Saturday morning.

"Who was that?" the pale-faced girl asked, lowering her weapon. This guy didn't seem so dangerous, if kids like that pink-haired girl could be around him with ease.

Ichigo sighed and frowned. "Her name is Yachiru, and she lives next door with a guy called Kenpachi."

A kid and a guy? Her father perhaps.

"What's your name? I can't keep calling you with "oi". Besides, you owe me something for saving your life," Ichigo interrupted her thoughts. He was surprised by her quick answer.

"I'm Rukia, Who're you?"

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Terrible name."

"My sentiments exactly about yours."

It was going to be a long day.

_To be continued. _

_---_

_To readers: That was long, for me at least. Basically, this AU aims **not** to include supernatural or fantasy elements, because canon!Bleach already contains enough of that. Explanation for the people chasing Rukia will come soon. The story is called Whiteout because I couldn't think of another term that had roughly the same meaning as Bleach. Please review! _


	2. Reaching Out

_Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews! I feel so loved. X)) Two new characters in this chapter! Hope all of you will enjoy it. _

---

**Whiteout.  
**_Reaching Out._

Somehow, Rukia had managed to settle down rather comfortably in Ichigo's house, much to his annoyance. After the first incident, he had been forced to sleep on the incredibly short and hard couch while his new "room-mate" dominated the queen-sized bed they had shared on the night of their first meeting. By the time they'd sorted out their territorial space within his apartment, it was already half past noon. Clad in one of Ichigo's smallest shirts (it was a lucky thing that he liked to wear tight clothing) and the pair of jeans she'd managed to save from the other day, Rukia picked his wallet from the table swiftly and sauntered out of the door.

"Let's go for lunch. Your treat, of course," she said as she sailed past the orange-head. He scowled and swore to himself that he would never _ever _bring a woman back to his house again. Especially if she was small, fair, dark-haired, and had a kick-ass gun strapped to her thigh. Fully loaded.

---

"Why the hell are you so poor?" Rukia asked, peering into his wallet. It was rather empty, besides the single 1000 yen note and a few 100 yen coins, which she believed was all he had at the moment.

"Freeloaders should just shut up and be happy with what they have," Ichigo retorted, expecting a whole string of piercing answers from his companion. Surprisingly, he got none. The girl was standing, fixated onto one spot, her swallow-tail-like hair billowing out behind her. Ichigo frowned and followed her gaze, wondering what was making her stare so intently.

---

A huge blinking signboard (in broad daylight?) with a blue bunny symbol bore the words: _Urahara's Candy Shop_. In addition to that, a plastic blue bunny statue stood before the sliding glass doors, holding a sign with the slogan: _Get our favorite candy here!_ Ichigo glanced at Rukia, whose eyes were currently sparkling with delight. He sighed and stepped through the threshold, holding out a hand to her. "Stop standing there like an idiot. Get inside," he said gruffly.

Her eyes still gleaming with glee, she smiled and took his hand, without a single clue about what she was doing besides the fact that she was stepping into a candy shop. All that was in her mind was: _A candy shop! In six whole years!_

---

The inside of the shop wasn't as spectacular as she'd thought it would be, but the sight of jarred up candy of all shapes and sizes in a whole colorful row before her was enough to make her start grinning like a moron. Licorice, mints, lollipops and more. This was _her _idea of heaven.

Ichigo glanced sideways at the deliriously happy girl next to him. Just a minute ago, she had been that scheming, devilish bitch who got her way in everything that she did. The next moment, she was staring at candy greedily like a five-year-old. He was oblivious of the fact that _he,_ in turn, couldn't stop being fascinated by the way her facial features lit up when she smiled _genuinely,_ with a whole childish touch to it. Both their thoughts were cut short by the crisp sound of heels and the click of a fan being opened.

"May I help you?" a man dressed in a plain yukata asked. His sandy-blond hair stuck out from underneath a queer straw hat, which concealed the top half of his face rather well. Following closely behind him was a slim and tanned woman, who bore a strange resemblance to a black cat, complete with the piercing yellow eyes.

There was silence as Ichigo scrutinized the suspicious-looking people behind the counter while Rukia scrutinized the glass jars containing candy behind the couple.

Shortly after, she broke the silence by asking, almost in a whisper, "Do you happen to have… jelly beans?"

Ichigo snorted.

And regretted it, as he felt something cold against his abdomen. Damn, he hated that gun.

The straw-hat guy's face broke into a smile as he ushered the small girl over to the left end of the counter, where he showed her Urahara's Candy Shop's own collection of jelly beans from all over the world, leaving the rather uncomfortable orange-haired male to deal with the scantily-clad tanned female. Despite the fact that Rangiku's breasts were possibly many times bigger than this woman's, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed next to her.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" the lady questioned, leaning over the counter, most probably on purpose. Ichigo edged away warily.

It all happened in one swift move. She grabbed him by the collar with surprisingly strong arms, and said clearly into his ear, "You're going to need our help in the future, Kurosaki, so get used to it."

After which she began to start a conversation any salesgirl would hold with a new customer. "Isn't the weather great today? My name is Yoruichi, by the way, and the guy over there is Urahara. He owns the shop, as you can see from the name. We never had a thing for uniforms. That idiot wanted to dress me up in a blue bunny suit but I told him it would never work…"

But Ichigo wasn't listening. His brows were currently knitted together. How'd she know his name? He didn't even _know_ this Yoruichi person, or Urahara, for that matter. Come to think of it, he'd never even seen this candy shop in the 2 years he'd spent in this town! Before he could ponder any further, the dark-skinned lady stuffed a paper bag in his arms and showered him with coins as change. Distracted, he found himself thinking about how stupid Rukia was to use his thousand yen note to pay for mere candy. As they walked out, one contented and the other confused, Urahara lifted his striped hat and waved goodbye.

"Hope to see you soon!" he said, almost mockingly. Then he turned to Yoruichi and muttered rather grimly, "Perhaps a little too soon, and for different reasons." She merely shrugged and capped the jelly bean jar shut.

---

She was humming. No words, just a weird tuneless melody, hanging eerily in the air.

He would rather die than admit that he actually liked it. And so, he told her to shut up. After which he had to face the wrath of her amazingly strong kicks and cold metal glinting threateningly in the sunlight again. And then, he realized that the cold metal had suddenly multiplied, and a whole horde of men dressed in black, complete with sunglasses, came together with the increase in guns as a squeaking clean package.

"RUN!" was all he heard before he broke into a run, with Rukia sprinting ahead of him.

---

They ran like they never did before. Well, Rukia just ran like she'd always been doing and Ichigo just ran like the time the police was after him for taking some drug. In other words, they ran pretty fast, in order to get rid of those black-suited men.

Panting heavily, both of them slumped down against a wall in a dark alley, feeling a sense of déjà vu, except that the orange-head was actually a victim this time, and not the savior of a damsel in distress. To correct that: A _bleeding_ damsel in distress that went unconscious on him.

"Who (pant) the hell (pant) were they?" Ichigo wheezed. His companion made no move to reply, her small hands still gripping her paper package of jelly beans tightly. Under her steady gaze, he suddenly felt very vulnerable. Here he was, running from god knows what, just because he'd taken in a poor little girl who could've died if he hadn't bandaged her wounds. Except that this dangerous woman was not a "poor little girl". She had a gun strapped to her thigh (which normal person does that?) and an unusual fetish for candy. And running away from Men in Black seemed to be a norm for her as well.

"I change my statement." Ichigo began, his voice harsh as he looked straight into Rukia's violet eyes. "Who the hell are _you_?"

---

After what seemed to be like eternity, she looked away. His stare was penetrating. Like daggers. She stole a glance at his face and saw that he was still waiting for an answer. No, she was not prepared to tell him about her whole history. She was not prepared to drag him into any of the fucking shit she was in right now.

"I don't know. I don't know, Ichigo," she said with outright honesty. Her knuckles were white from clutching the paper bag with blue bunny prints on it. She didn't dare to look at his face, at the way his expression would contort into one of anger, she was sure.

Instead, he got up and sighed.

"Whatever you say, princess. Get your ass off the floor. It's freaking dirty in here," Ichigo said dryly, holding out his hand to her once more. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she took it, and was hauled up to her feet rather gently.

---

Perhaps, Rukia would remember how it was to trust someone, with the aid of this queer orange-head. Meanwhile, she would just have to keep escaping from those irritating men in black suits sent by her dearest elder brother, who was probably currently sitting in some expensive limousine, giving out orders to bring her back home, dead or alive.

_To be continued._

---

_To readers: I tried to make it longer. Honestly. But I can't seem to go over two thousand words. Apologies if this chapter was too boring. Can't give all the goodies at one go, can I? Urahara and scantily-clad Yoruichi is enough for one chapter, I think. A certain silver-haired kid with issues will probably appear in the next chapter. X))_

_**AdventWing: **Thank you for your long review! I have moved the rating up, as you can see._

_**darkspryte: **Thanks! I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter. _

_**Higarashi: **Well, this is the second chapter! I hope this one's pretty good too._

_**boopkit: **I'm keeping on! _

_**Ann: **I know what you feel about AU fics. I sincerely pray that mine won't end up like the crappy ones! There are really good ones out there, though. Ichigo and Rukia are still yelling at each other in this chapter. Hope they're still in character. _

_**golden shadow: **Here you go. More! _

_**give me food: **I hope I didn't make you wait too long!_

_**Mimi-san: **I've read some of your fics, and they're wonderful! So it's not a crime to write well because you do too._

_**Jia Xi: **This is it, the "more" you were asking for! X))_

_**bianca s: **I tried to make it longer! Really! _

_**Kylara: **Glad that Rukia's dialogue is into character! Hope she was IC in this chapter too. _

_**Black Mistress: **I am happy that you appreciate my use of the term Whiteout as the title. And yes, I would like Yachiru and Zaraki as my neighbors very badly as well. X))_

_**(Happy Face, might not show up on FF page): **Yes, I intend to make this story much darker than Bleach itself, but this chapter seems kinda fluffy to me. Next chapter will be darker, I promise._

_**disillusiond: **I shall tell you as soon as I see you online. XD_

_**immortalrin: **Updated! _

_**Chelissamow: **Glad you liked it! _

_**kurenoharu: **I updated "the untold stories"! Good that I've converted you into a Ichigo X Rukia fan. XDD_

_As usual, please review! _


	3. Candy

_Author's Notes: Any offense or discrimination implied in this fic is completely unintentional. _

**Whiteout.**

_Candy._

Part I 

He was short, gangly and inconspicuous. Well, inconspicuous if he had a hood on to cover his shockingly silver hair. His friends wouldn't believe that he was _born _like that – everyone dyed and bleached their hair nowadays. Besides that, he was also underaged, and a _minor. _And all that meant he was perfect for drug trafficking.

Hitsugaya Toushirou was very aware of this fact, and he abused it often. Within the underworld, he was much sought after despite the ridiculously high prices he asked for. Sure, there were other more ordinary kids hanging around and could be hired at low costs, but most of the time, they were so high on drugs themselves that they couldn't even remember their own names, much less handle a drug transaction. But _he_ was something else. He'd grown up in the underworld, raised by different gangs until he could look after himself and earn his own living. He'd taken drugs before, gone out of his mind, and killed all the people within a circumference of one meter before. But that was just once, and some wonder if he actually did it on purpose, to gain a name for himself. After that particularly serious incident, Hitsugaya always maintained a clear mind, quick reflexes, and wits that saved his ass uncountable times.

---

And _that_ was probably why he was strolling down the unlit streets of Rukongai, whistling to himself casually, with a hell lot of Bleach hidden within his windbreaker. Never trust bags, someone had told him a long time ago. This drug was relatively new, just out of the factories. It looked exactly like household bleach, tasted like bitter medicine, but worked twice as well as any other drug, and was currently still unrecognized by the government as a Dangerous Substance. Which meant that it was still technically legal to sell this damned powder for as high a price it could fetch.

Any other kid would feel really honored to be handling this huge "project", but Hitsugaya was indifferent. He found drugs boring and useless after a while, and felt that those who took drugs just to prove a point were the dumbest of the lot. At the moment, he was feeling rather irritated because the plastic bags containing Bleach were poking into his waist. After passing by the bar Wijnruit, he spotted a suspicious-looking character lurking around one of the dark alleys. Keeping his head hooded, he jogged over to the person with ease.

The receiver's eyes darted from side to side, and he was constantly sticking his head out of the alley to keep watch. Hitsugaya scoffed at the pathetic guy and was about to empty his jacket of the drug when he noticed the shiny, new gun wedged in the pocket of his companion.

The gun wasn't such a big deal – almost everyone above ten years old had a gun kept in some part of their bodies. It was the fact that this particular gun was _shiny_ and _clean._ In the underworld, _no one_ ever got clean and new weapons. Turquoise eyes gleamed as the imposter receiver was hit on the neck by an iron rod before he could snatch up his shotgun. He fainted on the spot and Hitsugaya ran like the wind. He knew that other policemen would be hot on his heels in no time. Passing by Wjinruit (the bar) again, he nearly crashed into an orange-haired guy. Pulling his hood back on, Hitsugaya Toushirou ran into the dark of the night, holding onto the Bleach packets within his windbreaker with all his might.

---

Part II 

_Pop._ He twitched in his sleep.

_Scrunch._ The rustle of a sweet wrapper. Probably cellophane.

_Crack, _then silence for a while. He turned over on his bed, covering his head with a pillow. Why on earth did she have to crack the sweet before eating it? Sucking would have done the same job with much less noise.

_Scrunch, crackle, plonk. _More sweet wrappers, rolled into a tight ball, dunked into the bin. She'd always had a great aim. Pissed off, Ichigo sat up in bed, his orange hair more ruffled than usual and his frown deeper than usual. She sat on the only chair in the apartment, with her feet on the table, amidst a scatter of sweets. An assortment of candies, spilling out of a crumpled white bag with blue bunny prints on it.

"Stop it," he found himself croaking, instead of the string of curses his brain was willing him to say.

_Crack, _"Stop what?" Rukia asked, without bothering to look at him. He was positive she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Stop making so much noise with those sweets of yours." Damn it, the curses weren't coming out the way they should have. She must have spiked his drink with something that was numbing the vulgar part of his brain.

"You've just got over-sensitive ears or something," the black-haired female replied. Her voice was funny because of the sweet she was currently sucking. More rustling; she was unwrapping another piece of candy.

"Why the hell is there a candy shop just across the street and why the hell is there a bitch in my fucking apartment sucking god-damned sweets?" Ah, that was better. He felt more clear-headed; the drug was wearing off. Or maybe it was just the fact that Rukia had an annoyingly smug smile on her face that he wanted to wipe off.

"Asshole," she announced rather cheerily, for someone with bandages wrapping half her head in a crude manner and band aids plastered randomly on different parts of her body. He didn't know what had happened; didn't _want _to know what had happened. All he knew was that his temporary room-mate hadn't come home last night.

---

The night had been peaceful, without her presence. But then again, he'd been the one who poked his nose into her business and brought her battered body back to his apartment. He couldn't blame her for coming back. An awkward silence hung between them. Well, at least for him. She was too busy popping candies into her mouth and constructing a sweet-wrapper snowman. Perhaps it was an alien. He couldn't tell – she'd never had much artistic sense.

"One of these days, you're going to get yourself killed by these unknown people you're running from, or from consuming too much sugar," he muttered, dragging himself out of bed. It was no use trying to get back to sleep; _she _wasn't about to stop eating her sweets anytime soon. She glanced at him as he trudged his way into the bathroom, knocking himself on some random furniture in the cluttered space.

She called out to him, "Most people don't die from sugar overload. But some may die from tripping over old furniture." There was no reply, just the furious sound of blasting water from the shower.

---

As Ichigo was showering, Rukia reflected about the events that happened yesterday, late at night, in the dark alleys of Rukongai. The usual men in black suits running in their weird clicking shoes and brandishing sleek black guns. A black limo watching from afar, always in the background. They'd come so close last night. Gunshots grazing her limbs, something hitting her on the head. Thank goodness it didn't knock her out cold; she wouldn't have managed to dash into the short-cut that led to Ichigo's apartment. For God's sake, she'd just gone downstairs to purchase a medium-sized goodie bag of sweets from Urahara's Candy Shop! Those irritating "penguin-men", as she liked to call them because of their black and white suits, had been a little more intense yesterday. Her brother was probably getting anxious. She was picturing his expressionless face staring out of the car window when the sudden slam of the bathroom door snapped her out of her thoughts.

---

In shock, her feet dropped from the table and slammed down onto the ground painfully. She winced as her whole body felt a shudder run through and her head began to throb again. Her bandaging skills were very much inferior to Ichigo's – he was sound asleep by the time she'd managed to drag herself into his apartment. AS the pain numbed her mind and sent her into a state of semi-oblivion, she remembered rather fuzzily being lifted onto something soft (the bed?) by a pair of strong arms and a voice telling her gruffly to stay still while he bandaged her wounds properly. A click of a first aid kit, more surging pain as antiseptic was applied onto her open wounds, and this time she was knocked out cold.

---

_His hair was red and tied into a tight, spiky, ponytail. Hers was still black, and still parted at the back like a swallow's tail. They weren't the best of friends, but they stuck up for each other if an older kid bullied them in the orphanage. She remembers that he liked candy too. _

---

Rukia awoke with a jolt. Strange dream she had. It was rare that her childhood had crept into her dreams. Her orange-haired "room-mate" was nowhere to be seen. But he _had _cleared up her sweet wrapper alien (yes, it _was_ an alien) and hidden the rest of her blue bunny candies. In place, he had left two riceballs on a plate and a note.

_Eat this instead of your freaking annoying sweets. They make your teeth rot and make you fat, _he'd written in his surprisingly neat handwriting.

Rolling her eyes, Rukia reached for a riceball. It was good. Much better than candy.

_To be continued. _

---

_To readers: Part II of this chapter was actually written before all the previous chapters. I hope Rukia's obsession with candies is not overly-emphasized. It's all part of creating a "new character" for her. Notice my deliberate references to the word Bleach? I find it funny that household bleach can pass off as a drug. Oh, and Wijnruit as the name of the bar was just a spur of the moment. (For those who aren't part of the bleach lj comm, Rukia's name is thought to mean Wijnruit, or Rue.)_

_**kurenoharu: **I'm not really following the whole storyline of Bleach, but there will be similarities between my world and canon!Bleach world. And yes, I won't forget my other fics. XDDD_

_**Nadare-chan: **Yes, Shiro-chan. Hope you like this chapter too! ((:_

_**darkspryte: **Haha, Kubotite stated that Ichigo likes to wear tight clothing. No other meaning implied. XD _

_**boopkit: **Actually, I have been thinking about how Ishida would fit into the storyline, but sadly, the plotbunnies just refuse to come. However, if I ever get an idea about Ishida!Whiteout, I will definitely put him in. (:_

_**disillusiond:** Boo, here's the next chappie. Hope you liked Shiro-chan here. Oh, and about Byakuya being a bad guy? You'll just have to wait and see. XD_

_**Higarashi: **Ichigo probably took Rukia in because he felt a weird attraction to her. That, and because Rukia probably forced him to, with her fully loaded gun. XD_

_**SxStrngSamurai13: **You've got many things correct! The candy shop will reveal its "true colors" and as for Ichigo being special, I'll have to think of something, since canon!Ichigo is very special indeed._

_**immortalrin: **Apologies about not having Byakuya in this chapter. He will appear next chapter, I hope. :)_

_**Starr: **Yes, I know many people don't favor AUs. I'm actually one of them, but once in a while, there are some really good ones out there (especially in this fandom)._

_**jia xi: **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the relation to canon!Bleach. _

_**Black Mistress: **An oddly suspicious candy shop it is. XD Here's your more! I hope you're not disappointed with this chapter. ;)_

_**Shikani: **Thank you for reviewing and for your encouragement!_

_**bianca s: **This chapter is even longer than the previous one, I think. Oh no, I will have to update faster then. XDDD_

_**Ori: **Glad you think so!_

_**golden shadow: **This fic is supposed to be angst, but I keep producing a weird kind of humorous tone. Action will be present, but I guess the focus will be romance and angst. And the weird fluff. XD_

_Cookies for reviewers! _


	4. Losing It

_Author's Notes: The previous chapter didn't receive THAT many reviews, so I'm wondering if the storyline is getting too boring. :S Sincerely hope not. Anyway, here's the fourth chapter!_

---

**Whiteout.  
**_Losing It. _

Part I

"You've never been to an amusement park before."

"No, I haven't. Stop sniggering. It's just a stupid place for kids. I belong to a family of people worse than the yak-" She stopped dead midway. Silence engulfed the both of them. Kurosaki Ichigo sighed. He hated these kind of moments, where Rukia would suddenly become very quiet because she'd come close to revealing some part of her oh-so-mysterious life. Fuck it; he didn't even _want_ to know.

"Let's go," he said finally, after a few minutes of deafening silence.

"Where?" Violet eyes stared at him, and once again he saw the faint spark of child-like excitement present.

"The arcade. I'm not rich enough to bring you to an amusement park." Those violet eyes widened at this statement. Clearly, she had never been to an arcade either. _What kind of cursed childhood did this kid have_, he found himself wondering as they walked passed Wijnruit, the bar he worked in. Inside, Rangiku stood behind the counter, her stance rigid. A white-haired man strode towards her lazily, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Gin," she whispered hoarsely before dropping the glass of champagne she was holding. His grin grew wider.

---

Ichigo never knew why he'd decided to bring Rukia to an arcade. Their expenses for the month (he noticed with a shock that she'd been staying with him for three weeks already) weren't _that _tight, since all she did was eat candy and waste bandages. But that was hardly a reason to squander his hard-earned money on some bloody game. Especially if the game required skills he'd never learnt before. After all, all the games _he'd _ever played involved cars, shooting or fighting.

_Not_ a metal lever attempting to pick up stuffed toys. Embarrassing, really. Especially if there was a full-grown woman jabbing at the plastic screen and yelling at the top of her voice next to you.

"**BUNNY,**" she chanted, over and over again, till every single person in the arcade was staring at the both of them. She was apparently unaware of that fact.

"I KNOW, I know. I'll get the fucking bunny. Just shut up, will you?" he growled, focusing on the metal lever. Rukia paid no heed and continued her jabbing and shouting, much to his exasperation. By that time, there were quite a few people waiting for their turn on the game. A girl with two pigtails tugged at her mother's skirt and started crying that she wanted a bunny as well, adding to the stressful atmosphere that surrounded Ichigo at the moment.

---

He _did_ manage to get a stuffed toy in the end, but it wasn't the pink bunny with red ribbons. The first thing Rukia said when he tossed it into her arms was that it was hideous. Now, glancing at the yellowish brown material and badly sewn mane, he had to admit, this lion was _ugly._

"It looks just like you, with its orangey material," Rukia remarked, stretching the poor toy about.

"Ungrateful bitch," he muttered darkly. "If you hate it so much I'll throw it away." With that, he grabbed the stuffed lion and almost tossed it into a bin when she stopped him with a painfully strong death-grip.

"No, I'll take it. It's the only toy I've ever owned in a long time anyway," the dark-haired girl said, snatching the doll back. After which, she declared that she would name it Kon and hugged it tightly, in fear of Ichigo threatening to throw it away again. He could have killed her, there and then. Her swinging emotions were simply _impossible_ to comprehend.

---

Part II

Hitsugaya Toushirou was sitting on a cliff, his legs dangling dangerously over the edge, with his eyes closed, as he breathed in the salty sea breeze, when he felt someone approach and take a seat next to him. His eyelids flickered open; turquoise met brown. Both yelped and scooted to opposite ends of the cliff (not that it had much space anyway).

"Who the hell are you?" he yelled, glaring daggers at the culprit. She winced a little at the harshness of his voice but forced herself to walk bravely towards him.

"M-my name is Hinamori Momo, and I'm just here to help you," she mumbled, brown eyes staring at his feet. A social worker, he realized. In other words, pure _bullshit_. Waving his rusty gun a bit too obviously, he walked past her, as though she hadn't spoken, and was very much invisible.

And then, she exploded.

It was at these times that Hitsugaya hated the fact that he was vertically challenged and weighed less than a sack of potatoes. He hung, embarrassed, as she lifted him up by the collar, the expression on her face deadly.

"I _said,_ I'm here to help you," she said clearly but quietly. Somehow, he found that extremely frightening (and Hitsugaya Toushirou is not easily scared), so much so that he had to bend his head and glance away. He _did_ struggle, though, to save what little was left of his dignity.

But she didn't even flinch. As her untiring hand held him midair, the questions came flooding in, leaving Toushirou with not much choice but to answer quickly, or be mocked at by more passers-by.

And so, Hinamori found out that his full name was Hitsugaya Toushirou, he would turn sixteen this December, and his favorite food was watermelon. That was enough for her. Secretly, she was amazed that he was the same age as her, and liked watermelons too. This case wouldn't be so bad after all, despite what her senior Nanao-san had warned.

"Can you put me down now?" he asked, curt voice penetrating through her thoughts. A little startled, she dropped him onto the ground, right on his ass.

"Fuck."

She ignored his curse. "Toushirou… From now on, you shall be called Shiro-chan," declared Momo with a satisfied smile.

"FUCK," he repeated with more conviction. She smiled back, sickeningly sweetly on purpose.

---

There was business tonight. But he wouldn't be able to do it with that bitch tagging along, with her chatter and flitting movements.

"Look, I know you want to help me and all that shit, but I actually have to _work_ to live," he tried explaining, as they walked down the pavement. She nodded, ribbons in her hair vibrating.

"… And I can't have you by my side when I _work_," he continued, wondering why his tone was so gentle, considering that the person he was talking to had just ripped his self-esteem away. She nodded again, and spoke before he could carry on.

"I know. I won't call the police. I'm on _your _side."

Social workers always said that. Their charges almost always landed in jail. Toushirou really had no idea why he'd decided to trust her.

"You could get killed or jailed, you know," he tried dissuading her, although he knew it wouldn't work.

There was silence, then laughter. Damn it, she was smiling at him again.

---

And so, she followed him past the bar Wijnruit, into a dark lane that night. Small deal this time – just a sample pack. It'll be over in a jiffy, if no obstacles crop up. And if he hadn't created so many enemies with his rude talk and swaggering attitude.

This, of course, proved to be a huge problem.

The minute he entered the lane, he noticed something was up. Too many shadows, too much breathing. Too much _human_. Next moment, he found himself surrounded by a group of grinning people. Hinamori tensed up, next to him. He sniffed the air. They were on drugs, without doubt. All of them kids, around his age.

But kids can be very scary at times, because they don't value life very much indeed.

BAM, a bullet whizzed past his head, hitting a metal can. That was all it took for the wild rampage to start. Before long, Hitsugaya and Hinamori were running for their lives. Literally.

It was a good thing that the kids were high on drugs. Their aims were rather off most of the time, hitting random things lying around, but never the targets themselves. But it was also a bad thing, because their minds were so fucked up that they just kept pressing the trigger and firing at any random thing that passed by.

BAM, BAM, BAM, and he heard a slight yelp that was silenced almost immediately. The gunshots stopped. He froze, turning around slowly to face the gang of ten or more. The leader (probably some guy whose self-esteem had been hit bad by our dear Hitsugaya in some point of his life) held the social worker in a tight grip, smirking. Momo smiled weakly and mouthed an apology. Her right calf was bleeding. It'd dirtied her white socks.

"Put her down," Hitsugaya said softly, his eyes still on her bleeding leg.

"Whatcha gonna do if I don't?" the leader drawled, as the other gang members laughed stupidly. Hitsugaya continued staring at her blood. Drip, drip, drip, in the silence. His turquoise eyes glanced at the group from under his black hood. A click of a gun, then a single shot that rang through the alley. The leader slumped down, bullet in his head, right through the middle with extreme accuracy. Hitsugaya walked over, almost sauntering, and stepped on the leader's face.

"I'll just fucking kill you," he said, as he lifted Momo (who'd fainted from an excessive loss of blood) up from the ground.

And _then_, all hell broke loose.

More random shooting, more anger over the death of their leader, more fuzziness in their brains. He felt a bullet graze past his face. Damn it, he'd started bleeding as well. More shots, some hurting his arms, some his abdomen; he couldn't tell. The blood got into his eyes, and everything turned red. But he hung on to the girl, and ran, like he always did.

Light came into sight. It was the most beautiful light he'd ever seen, at least at that moment. The blinking sign of a candy shop. Some crappy name like Urahara's Candy Shop or something like that, he recalled, before collapsing into a heap at the sliding doors.

---

Part III

Byakuya sat in the hall, solitary. They'd failed too many times. Rukia had always been a smart girl, and she knew her way around the town. She'd probably found someone to keep her safe for the time being as well. He felt that it was a waste of resources, but orders _were_ orders. He ran through the list again.

No more penguin men. Just that low-profiled Hisagi person and a close friend of his sister's, before she entered the Kuchiki family. His second-in-command, actually.

Abarai Renji.

_To be continued._

_To readers: This chapter was named Losing It, since Ichigo is losing it over a freaking bunny, Hitsugaya over a bleeding Hinamori, and Byakuya… well, he isn't exactly losing it, but he's getting a little impatient. Look out for smexy Shuuhei and Renji in the next chapter. Damn it, I keep bribing you guys. XD_

_**AnimeObsessionFantasy: **I highly doubt so too. Anime characters are always in good shape, unlike me. :(_

_**disillusiond: **There you have it, more Hitsugaya. Not so much connected to Ichigo yet, but it'll be coming soon, I promise._

_**Tank: **I had to check out the dictionary for "fratricidal"! Hmmm, don't think he will. ;)_

_**kurenoharu: **You finally watched the show! Hope you like this chapter too! _

_**Nadare-chan: **Glad you liked the previous chapter! Hope this one's satisfactory. _

_**XD: **I THINK this chapter is a little longer than the others. Is it long enough? I hope so… (:_

_**carzla: **Oooh HI! Yes, Hitsugaya still seems rather striking. As for Rukia losing her memory, I didn't mean it to come out that way, but I guess that part is mainly up to the reader's own interpretation! _

_**Starr: **I like candy too! And I agree totally about AU fics. (:_

_**Bakageta: **Yay for Bleach the drug. I never saw it that way! (grins) Sorry about the confusion! Hope things get sorted out soon. _

_**immortalrin: **Rukia is indeed cute, and Renji is indeed smex. I promise that he'll appear next chapter. And I included Byakuya in this chapter! XDDD_

_**jiaxi: **Yeah, I really like making parallels to canon!Bleach. Hope you like this chapter too! _

_**darkspryte:** Ah yes, progress. Glad you liked Hitsugaya's appearance. (: Many have commented on the confusion, so I hope the next few chapters will clear things up a little bit! _

_Keep the reviews coming! They make me really really really x100 happy! XD_


	5. Turn Around

_Author's Notes: I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LATE UPDATE! But, it was wonderful getting reviews even weeks after I'd posted the last chapter. –huggles- Thanks, everyone! -edit- Edited Part III a little because it was leaving everyone confuzzled. I apologize again. Also, to help your understanding, Urahara's Candy Shop's mascot is a blue bunny, in case anyone forgot. _

**Whiteout.  
**_Turn Around. _

Part I

They stood, one leaning against the wall lazily, the other fiddling with his lighter. A spark; and a flame was ignited. He lit his cigarette and drew in a deep breath of smoke before letting it out slowly. His companion fingered the weapon in his pocket, watching the dark clouds absently. A slightly chilling breeze; and the clouds drifted away, revealing a rather ominous moon. The moonlight shone into the previously dark alley, illuminating a tall red-head with tattooed eyebrows, holding a cigarette in one hand, and his partner, with three scars down one cheek, and a number printed on the other. It could've been 67, or 69 – it wasn't clear in the poor lighting.

Dropping his nearly burnt out cigarette onto the ground, the red-haired male stepped out the flame and walked out of the alley lazily. His scarred companion followed, lounging behind him in the same laidback fashion.

---

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, attempting to mask the concern in his voice, as he watched Rukia turn around sharply _yet_ again. It had been the fifth time she'd done it already, as if she had expected someone to attack her from behind. She shook her head rather violently, returning to her dinner without uttering a single word. He frowned, but didn't probe further, as always. If she didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't force her to, so as not to disturb the fragile balance of their current relationship, which pretty much meant living together without trying to strangle each other to death.

He was in the kitchen when there was a loud crash, followed by footsteps and a sharp gasp, probably from Rukia. A clatter of plates in the sink, and he rushed out, only to find two strangers clothed in black suits, blocking the doorway which they had just destroyed. They seemed different from the usual "penguin men", as Rukia had nicknamed them oh-so-fondly. And it seemed as though she knew them pretty well indeed. The flame-haired one took off his shades, smirking as he did so.

"Yo, Kuchiki _Jou-sama_," he drawled, emphasizing on the title at the end. Rukia scowled, her hand going to the gun on her thigh.

"Abarai Renji," she spat, holding the weapon tightly in front of her, pointing at the red-head. Ichigo noticed with mixed feelings that he didn't even flinch. All of a sudden, there was a flurry of movement, and two shots were fired. Whether it was Renji who shot first, or Rukia, no one could tell except for the shooters themselves. Ichigo was very much aware of the fact that his strange "room-mate" had an excellent aim (from incidents in which she'd threatened to shoot him in the crotch, but missed _just_ barely because of his quick reflexes), but this Abarai-guy was no worse, or maybe even better. Another shot was fired, this time at the ground, subsequently deflecting in Ichigo's direction. The bullet would have pierced right through his heart if he hadn't jerked sideways, plummeting into the half-cleared table. As a result, the bullet just managed to graze his left arm.

"Oi, Shuuhei! Let's just finish this shit and get our asses outta this place," Renji said in a slightly irritated tone (probably because he'd missed his target _twice_), cocking his head sideways at his partner. After which, he advanced forward towards Rukia and knocked the weapon out of her hands in one swift movement. Shocked, she staggered backwards, only to fall into Shuuhei's strong grip. Muttering a low "Please excuse me, Rukia-sama", he hit her on the back of her head to knock her unconscious.

It was at that moment that they noticed a looming shadow at the doorway, along with something bouncing up and down on his shoulder.

"Ichii!" the bouncing thing yelled in her usual shrill voice. Her "carrier" opened his mouth to reveal all his teeth, probably in an attempt to smile. The result was a terribly frightening and sinister grin. Renji frowned – he wasn't sure if he liked the current situation. Two, maybe four rifles were conjured out of nowhere, and the tall figure began to shoot. At first, Ichigo (from underneath the table) thought that his neighbor was just randomly firing at everything around him, but when he looked closely, he realized that every single shot was directed at Rukia's attackers and never at anyone else.

"Ken-chan is_ so_ cool!" Yachiru cooed, still bouncing as she squeezed the trigger of the shotgun she held in her small hands with much ease, nearly inflicting damage on Shuuhei. A little taken aback, he let go of Rukia and sent her falling to the ground. Meanwhile, his partner was having problems of his own. With Zaraki Kenpachi's extremely precise aims, Renji was finding it very hard not to get killed, much less retaliate. Snarling as another bullet hit his abdomen, he signaled to Shuuhei to leave, and together, they exited from the room, attempting to dodge Zaraki's consistent firing as they did so.

With the pink-haired girl's help (pouring icy cold water on her head, to be exact); Rukia was very much awake by the time her "visitors" had left. Glancing at her saviours (somewhat), she murmured a soft "thank you" as they strode out, Zaraki bending slightly to walk through the threshold and Yachiru on his shoulder, waving enthusiastically at Rukia.

---

Ichigo scanned the condition of his house and groaned as he tried to stand up. Everything was in a total mess, with broken windows and lights, destroyed cupboards, and fluff escaping from the gaping holes that had been made in the couch. He would just have to beg Rangiku to give him his pay in advance or something, to pay for all the destruction. Wincing as he thought of her usually smiling face turning into a dangerous glower as he asked for money for the next few months, he decided against it. Getting another job would be a better solution…

He was brought back to reality by a cold hand touching his injured arm lightly. Rukia's head was bowed down as she asked if it hurt, in a soft voice. Ichigo realized that she'd thought his wincing was due to pain and tried to explain, but she silenced him with a guilty look on her face as she made him sit on the counter in the bathroom. After rummaging for a while in the rubble, she returned with the first aid kit. With Ichigo propped up on the vanity, his nose was now level with Rukia's eyes, making it easier for her to bandage his wounds.

"This time, it's _my_ turn to treat you," she commented grimly, taking a roll of gauze out from the white box. "Fuck, _NO_," he began to say, but was silenced once again, this time with a light jab at one of his wounds, sending him off into a string of incomprehensible curses.

His left arm was bandaged (to the best of her capability) first, and then ointment was applied to the bruises on his kneecap without her paying any heed to his protests. The last injury was the deep gash on his cheek which he hadn't even noticed. Holding his head steady with one of her cold hands, Rukia wiped away the blood, then applied antiseptic. She bit her lower lip as she watched him cringe just a little at the stinging pain and stopped the treatment. His resolute orange pupils stared into her violet ones because they couldn't look anywhere else, with her hand clamping his head to look at her.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo," she said quietly, looking away from his gaze. She taped down the bandage on his face, making a cross shape with the tape, and released her hold on the back of his head.

He looked at her slumped shoulders and the weight of guilt on her small body, together with lips that were currently set into a thin line, and an expression of defeat present in her intricate facial features. He had to admit that she _was _beautiful, fair and dark-haired, petite with symmetrical features, just like a porcelain doll. She stood before him, clad in another one of his big shirts, deep violet eyes staring at nothing in particular, and he felt a sudden urge to hold her. Without thinking about the consequences (probably a flying kick across his jaw), he bent down a little and placed his lips on hers gently.

To his surprise, she didn't kick him in the shin, but dissolved into his embrace, and returning his kiss in much the same manner.

---

Part II

"Are you all right, Matsumoto-san?" Isane asked, as she saw a glass slip from her employer's hands. A few heads looked up when they heard the shattering of glass, but Rangiku's eyes remained fixated on the silver-haired man standing before her, oblivious to the champagne spreading around her feet. He sat down on the barstool (strategically right in front of her), still grinning his foxy grin. Isane tapped her on the back and she broke out of her trance, reverting back to the cool and smooth-talking bartender that everyone was familiar with. The only difference was the obvious hostile waves she was emitting, as she tried her best to ignore the silver-haired customer, leaving her employee to deal with him, alone.

"What would you like to have, sir?" Isane asked, still puzzled over Matsumoto-san's sudden change in behavior. The customer chose to pay no attention to her at all, but continued smiling at the blonde. Shrugging helplessly, Isane moved away to tend to another customer, leaving the couple to themselves.

A few minutes passed, and Rangiku felt her face turning hot partly because of his penetrating gaze, but mostly because she was getting rather irritated.

"Get the fuck out of here, Gin," she growled in a low voice, so as not to attract more attention (although she knew that all eyes were still on her and the weird customer).

"Nanya, don't you miss me, Ran-chan?" he replied as smoothly as she would have done to a different person, his eyes reduced to small inverted crescent moon slits and the infuriating smile still stuck on his fair face.

"Don't. Call. Me. That," she growled again, this time in a louder voice. Isane backed away and tried to hint to the other patrons in the bar to find shelter or leave before the volcano erupted. There was no reply from Rangiku's "opponent", but he set his arms on the counter, cradling his head with his hands and smiled at her sweetly. That was the last straw. Isane groaned silently and wondered why she was the only one working at that particular hour – she would have to clean up after her employer's mess.

---

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY BAR, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" roared Rangiku as she brought herself to full height and looked utterly terrifying (together with her intimidating assets that hung in front of her) as she started throwing anything she could find at the silver-haired man, including cups, glasses, beer and whatnot that was available in the bar.

"I'll visit again sometime, Ran-chan," he called out before leaving the bar (and dodging several sharp objects at the same time), but losing his saunter in an attempt to get out as quickly as possible. Inside, he could still see the blonde waving her hands about furiously and the girl named Isane (he'd looked at her name tag despite ignoring her earlier) trying her very best to restrain her. The other customers were also leaving in a hurry, because some of the objects aimed at him had flown someplace else as well.

Shaking his head slowly, Gin smiled. "You'll never change, Rangiku," he thought aloud, regaining his lazy way of walking.

---

Part III

He found himself staring into the faces of several freaky-looking blue bunnies smiling at him sadistically.

"What the fuck?" was the first thing he uttered, turquoise eyes blinking crossly. A curtain with blue bunny prints hung above his head in a circle as the bunnies continued smiling widely, causing a shudder to run down his back.

"My, my, aren't children vulgar these days," remarked a voice from behind the stuffed creatures, with a soft chuckle. Hitsugaya frowned and pushed the curtain away, and saw a man in a striped green hat over a head of messy sandy-blond hair and a paper fan covering his mouth.

"And who the hell are you?" the boy asked in a snarl, his hand reaching for his trusty gun by instinct, only to find that it wasn't at his waist as per normal. His frown deepened. The man with the straw hat simply laughed again, and produced the exact same gun out of nowhere.

"Give it back you sneaky asshole!" Toushirou shouted, standing up to get his prized possession back from the queer man, but found that the circular curtain with blue bunnies hindered his movement and ended up in a tangle of string and cotton, looking utterly stupid with something that looked like a blue fluffed up tutu (with random torn bunny parts in certain areas) crammed around his waist, coaxing another chuckle from his companion.

"Fiery, aren't we? Why don't you get out of that ridiculous array of ballet clothing and come down for breakfast so that we can… talk things over," the straw-hatted man suggested (although it sounded very much like a threat to poor Hitsugaya), making his way down the creaky stairs.

Halfway down the steps, the man added as a passing remark, "Your female companion is downstairs with my… wife-ouch-I mean, my business associate." followed by, "Don't hit me, Yoruichi! I was just joking about the wife part." leaving a very bewildered boy trying very hard to get out of his blue-cotton-that-used-to-be-a-freaky-curtain predicament.

---

"Good morning, Shiro-chan!" Momo chirped when her charge finally came down, looking very peeved with some bits of blue cotton stuck in his spiky hair. He didn't even bother to correct her name-calling and simply slumped down in the only empty chair left. A tanned woman slapped a fried egg on his plate and handed him a fork. He scowled sullenly, but ate it, trying not to appear like a hungry savage but failing.

"Now that your stomach's filled, let's start with the introductions first, shall we?" the sandy-blond-haired guy said to no one in particular. "You can call me Urahara, and the pretty lady over here is Yoruichi." The tanned woman nodded in acknowledgement and grinned rather cattily. "Now, I've heard from Hinamori-chan over here that the both of you are currently homeless unless you count dark alleys?" At this, Urahara raised an eyebrow questioningly. Hitsugaya gawked at Momo, who bobbed her head rather sheepishly.

How in the hell can a homeless person even _attempt_ to help someone else?

"My foster parents kind of… threw me out of the house when they figured my income wouldn't be of any significant help to them," the brown-haired girl offered as an explanation. When Toushirou just continued gawking, she continued in a small voice, "They never really liked me, to begin with… And everyone at work is too caught up with their own lives to offer me any help, I mean, I _am_ a social worker myself…"

"I apologize for interrupting your small conversation in getting to know each other better, but please, let me get to the core of matters first," Urahara disrupted, snapping his fan close. "I happen to know a couple who'd take the both of you in gladly, just as long as you don't tear down their apartment-"

"What's the catch?" asked Hitsugaya coldly; he was too used to making deals in the underworld. No one, absolutely _no one_, offered you benefits without wanting something in return. At this, both adults smiled simultaneously.

"What a smart boy. Yes yes, of course we would want something in return. After all, nothing in this world's free isn't it?" Urahara rattled on. "All we want is for the two of you to report certain… queer instances that happen to the couple that you are going to stay with to us every week," Yoruichi finished for him.

---

Hitsugaya was about to question more when Momo kicked him in the shin under the table with more strength than he'd thought she had. "We'll accept the offer gladly!" she said brightly. "Just one more question. What kind of queer instances are you referring to?"

Once again, Urahara lips curved into a small smile. "Oh, just certain black-suited men who look strangely like penguins. Oh, and they'll probably be armed."

"Wha-" Another kick in the shin, but on the other leg. "That shouldn't be a problem! Thank you, Urahara-san," Hinamori said, smiling. Suddenly, the silver-haired boy regretted saving her, and felt a little wilted in the strangely horrifying smiling fest the other three people were having.

"You're very welcome, Hinamori-chan!" After a slight pause, Yoruichi added, "You too, Shiro-chan."

Hitsugaya Toushirou was pretty sure that he would die.

_To be continued. _

---

_To readers: Around 3000 words! Aren't you guys proud of me? –wide grin- I hope my writing wasn't too confusing because the ideas just kept pouring in and I just had to type everything out. Hope everyone was pleased with the short IchiRuki moment and Gin's appearance (although his name was only mentioned at the end, I'm sure everyone knows it's HIM). Also, Hitsugaya in a tutu of a curtain with blue bunny prints amused me greatly. XD I just love teasing the poor kid. _

_**kirby:** Your review inspired me to get working on Parts II and III! I did Part I a long time ago, see. Well, here's the next chapter! _

_**Kitty:** I really hope this turns out well. :) Here's the update!_

_**Nadare-chan:** Thank you for your praise! XD Here's more Renji and HitsuHina interaction. _

_**darkspryte:** Hehe, next installment here! Hope you liked it. _

_**Hoshii-chan:** -blushes- Thank you for your compliments! You write very well yourself. (: More HitsuHina and a great development in IchiRuki!_

_**AnimeObsessionFantasy:** Yes, I thought "penguin men" was rather amusing as well. XD_

_**Black Mistress:** Yay, Renji fangirl! More of him here. Yes, Hitsugaya kicked ass, but I've reduced him to nothing in this chapter:O –runs from rabid fangirls- Hmm, I'm not too sure about what Hinamori is, really. XDDD_

_**Sasha:** I am SO glad that this fic amused you! Hope this chapter is satisfying as well. :)_

_**disillusiond:** More Shuuhei! XD Apologies for no Byakuya this time. About Gin being of no relevance, you're lucky Feli has never heard of my fanfic account so she won't be hunting you down. XD_

_**Rabid Lola:** I am glad that someone actually took notice of poor deprived Kon. XDDD My fics aren't so filled with cursing usually, trust me. :) Yes, I think Shunsui will be appearing somehow. _

_**kurenoharu:** I don't think Kubotite is going to make ANYTHING canon for the time being. :( Well, that's why I'm writing fics! XDDD_

_**carzla:** Here's more Gin X Rangiku interaction! Yes, I would like to reveal more on Byakuya's intentions soon. :)_

_**ElusiveCat:** I'll bet you've watched up to the recent episodes already, because I took such a long time updating. –grovels- I am really sorry. Hope you're more familiar with the characters now!_

_**Jia Xi:** Yay, someone else noticed Kon! XD I'm glad you liked the Hitsugaya-protecting-Hinamori part! _

_**deadstrawberries:** Cheers for HitsuHina! Here's more. XD_

_**Chibirebel and ldybookiie:** Here's your update! I hope you like it. :)_

_**notnow:** Yes, it is disconnecting how Ichigo is being so nice to Rukia without payment, but I'm probably crediting that mostly to her threatening him than anything else. XD I'll work on it!_

_**Sweet Hikaru-Chan:** Of course I won't mind you starting to read my fiction at Chapter 4! In fact I'm honored. :) Phew, I was worried that Hinamori being a social worker wouldn't be accepted. _

_**darkfire22:** Oh, thank you for reviewing Winter Death too! I am currently working on the second chapter… Even if the word count isn't increasing rapidly. :( Thank you for believing in this fic and continuing to read even though you don't like AU! _

_**EEP-chan:** You really think so? Why, thank you! XDD I hope everyone's still into character in this chapter. _

_**Bakageta:** More bunnies to annoy everyone with, but this time Hitsugaya's the poor victim! XDD_

_I decided to continue replying everyone through my fic, rather than using the new reply option that has been so graciously provided because I can't reply to people without accounts that way. As usual, please continue spamming me with wonderful reviews that make my day! _


	6. Pondering

_Author's Notes: I apologize for the late update. The really, really late update. I was having writer's block for the longest period of time – it was the worst kind of writer's block; the sort that made you start writing something for around three to five lines, then realize what you typed was utter bullshit but then you still kinda liked the idea, and so you saved it under your Fanfiction folder and never continued it ever again. To add on to that, school was a total unfriendly bitch and made me want to gnaw on all the homework that was piled onto us. And now I'm babbling. Anyway, I know my reasons aren't good enough for making you guys wait so long for a new chapter. Again, my sincere apologies. I suck. ): _

**Whiteout.**  
_Pondering._

Eight o'clock in the morning – Ichigo stood behind the bar, squeezing a rag through the mouth of a beer mug to wipe it dry after washing. Usually, the washing was done at the back of the bar, so that the counter remained "sacred", as quoted from Matsumoto Rangiku. The orange-head preferred to think that she just didn't like soaking her hands in a mix of murky water and soap suds; his employer mixed the drinks for their customers most of the time, because they loved to see her strut down as she slid her drinks across the smooth wooden surface to them, and that meant that she never had the "time" to visit the soiled utensils and the sink.

But today was different.

On normal days (working days), the bar was usually empty from eight to nine in the morning. When the minute hand of the old-fashioned clock that hung on the wall struck five minutes past nine, a lone customer would stroll in and sink into a chair at the counter before telling Rangiku what he wanted. As the minutes ticked by, more and more people would file in, some in groups, but most solitary. Not all of them ordered alcohol, because Wjinruit was more of a mix between a restaurant and a bar, and offered a pretty wide selection of food as well.

But today, the bar had a grand total of… Ichigo glanced up and counted the number of people seated before him, merely separated by the thin strip of a counter. The bar had six people (including himself and excluding Matsumoto, because she was off slacking somewhere), at eight in the morning.

That skimpy lady from the candy shop (that Rukia adored so much) sat at the far left, looking more like a cat than ever because of the black suit she donned. Thankfully, although her choice of clothing hugged her curves, she wasn't flaunting her assets at Ichigo like she'd done in the candy shop. The owner of the shop himself was seated next to her, still dressed in the same frumpy coat and striped hat that covered his eyes and made him look a little too sinister. The easy grin on his face did nothing to make him seem more trustable.

There were three more people next to Urahara, which meant that Rukia was seated right smack in the middle, facing him directly. He met her gaze, then looked away as he recalled the events that'd happened two days ago.

---

The kiss had lasted for a long time. It had been an innocent kiss – no one let their hands roam about or anything like that. Just simple mouth to mouth as he leaned down from the vanity to hold her close to him. Surprisingly, she hadn't retaliated, and even returned his gesture. It puzzled him rather. She'd only stayed with him for say, one month? And they were already sharing "passionate kisses" after a "long and hard battle". Ichigo grimaced as he remembered the specific phrases from a romance novel he'd been forced to read by a friend some time ago. No, he wasn't confused about the fact that they'd locked lips. Big deal, Matsumoto smooched him occasionally when she was really, really drunk, but it didn't mean anything to the both of them at all. What baffled him was that he'd actually wished that time would stop and let them remain in that position forever, and that entire package of romantic shit. The hell! Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't the sort of guy who thought of such corny things, much less exchange saliva with a girl he knew for such a short period of time. He couldn't blame it on raging hormones, because he was already past that stage in his life (THANK GOD). There was just a certain attraction he felt towards this Oriental-looking female, with her jet-black hair and porcelain face. Ichigo was certain that the same attraction had caused him to bring her back to his apartment, and helped him to tolerate her secretiveness, together with all the people who wanted her life.

This sort of emotion was alien to the orange-head. He _had _felt this way about another woman, but that was a long time ago. She was as good as dead, now. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with it, at the moment. Especially when the first thing they'd said to each other when they broke apart was "Oh fuck." It would've been comical if they'd been bystanders watching a couple snog in a comedy, but they were the main characters of this lousy soap opera that had run out of money for a proper set, that's why they had to do it in a bathroom.

---

Someone cleared his throat, and broke Ichigo's train of thought. It had been a boyish voice… Ah, it'd come from the boy who was currently perching on the chair next to Rukia. He was frightfully skinny, with a shock of silver hair and piercing aquamarine eyes that seemed to belittle you, as though he was of a higher rank than you. The bartender was sure that he'd met this boy before on one of his late night shifts, but didn't bother to sieve through his memories to find a particular incident. On his right was a young girl of around sixteen years, perhaps. She looked the most pleasant out of the group of five, with a small smile on her face at all times, and hair tucked into a neat bun.

Ice clinked about in glass cups as Yoruichi swirled her drink about a few times with a bored expression on her face. Clearly, waking early in the morning was not her cup of tea. Several minutes passed as the five of them merely watched Ichigo work behind the counter – squirting soap into a sponge, swiping at the insides of the glasses, turning the water on at full speed, and then finally drying everything in a checkered cloth, which was becoming soaked at the moment. It was all a monotonous cycle that he repeated, and made those who observed him want to fidget about in their seats.

After a while, Urahara cleared his throat as well, and looked up to face Ichigo, so that his eyes stopped hiding under the shadows of his straw hat.

"I wish to strike a deal with you, Kurosaki-san," he drawled, making his Kansaiben more obvious than before. The orange-head raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, which spurred the candy shop owner to continue talking.

"You see, the two youngsters here are good friends, but both of them don't have any parents – the girl was disowned by the set of foster parents her orphanage had assigned her to just because she wanted to be a social worker, and to contribute to the society! This lad here was saved from the clutches of evil by her, and he is very grateful to the young lady; he even wants to turn over a new leaf," Kisuke rambled on, shushing Toushirou's ardent protesting and cursing as he went along.

An impatient sigh escaped from the bartender's lips as he put down the beer glass he was holding, still wet with soap bubbles and water. "Get to the point, Straw Hat. What do you want from us?" There was a pause, and he frowned at what he'd just said. What "us"? There is _no_ "us", he convinced himself silently, ignoring the fact that he'd glanced at Rukia at the mention of "us".

Urahara chuckled lightly, before spreading out his fan in front of his face. "My my, young people these days don't appreciate small talk." The fan snapped close.

"All right then, let's get to the point, as you said, Kurosaki-san. Yoruichi-san and I would like you to provide a home for the two teenagers next to Rukia-san here. You'll just have to let them stay in your apartment for a period of time, while we search for a new place for them to stay in."

The beer glass cracked as Ichigo gaped at the absurd request. Rukia and her stupid penguin men had already caused him a huge sum of money, not to mention her weird antics such as kicking people off the bed with her strong legs, and overall just leeching on his money – all the hard-earned money from various part-time jobs…

"No. No way. I'll probably die of overwork-"

"Now, no one can actually die of overworking, but we digress. Yes, I agree that our request is rather difficult to fulfill, but there are other factors that you must consider, as a man who is _very_ in. Need. Of. Financial. Aid," the sandy-haired male said, emphasizing on the last five words, before grinning rather sinisterly. Ichigo scowled and let the candy shop owner continue.

A grin, then, "They will pay you rent." At which Hitsugaya widened his eyes and began to toss profanities at him, before Momo whapped him with a folded newpaper (God knows where she got that from) and he elbowed Rukia accidentally, who yelped and knocked her glass of orange juice over, letting the liquid spread all over the counter. Yoruichi snickered at the scene, and continued sipping elegantly from her wineglass, rather like a cat drinking milk from a saucer.

"I repeat, they will pay you rent, but the money will come from us. They will have to pay us back in installments, but that is a small matter to us. We will give you time to work out the finances and come back to us with a quoted price, and the deal will be closed there and then. Is that reasonable to you, Kurosaki-san?" The last sentence was meant to be a question, but it came out sounding more like a command, despite the fact that Urahara was smiling.

Ichigo's frown deepened. "No, I won't take them i-"

He was interrupted yet again, this time by a familiar and female voice. "I don't see why we can't give them a place to stay in, if they're paying rent." He gawked at Rukia, who shrugged indifferently.

"Freeloaders don't have a say in who gets to stay in my apartment!" the orange-haired man, who was looking more like a distraught boy, exclaimed, sending the cracked beer glass plummeting into the sink and shattering into further smaller pieces. He didn't even wince. Neither did the other five people in the bar. Rukia merely stuck out her tongue at him (now why did he find that incredibly sensual?) and folded her arms across her chest.

Great, she wanted him to do this. Silence filled the bar, as five extremely intimidating people stared at him expectantly.

Argh, fuck it. "All right, I'll give you the price when I have time to work it out."

He could've sworn that the girl with the hair-bun mouthed a "YES!" to herself as she punched her fist into the air and swayed her hips from side to side, but he was too distracted with how Urahara was placing his arm round Rukia.

"Now get out of my workplace before I chase all of you out with a broom," Ichigo said in a dangerously low voice as he picked up the shards of glass from the sink to throw into the bin.

"I look forward to your visit to the candy shop, Kurosaki-san!" Urahara called out as he strolled through the doors with Yoruichi and the two younger kids, one scowling with a passion and the other still doing her strange hip-swaying dance.

… Leaving him alone with someone he didn't really want to be alone with at the moment.

Mutely, he picked up a few kitchen towels to wipe up the mess of orange juice on the counter, feeling Rukia's eyes on him but trying to ignore it by busying himself, rather like a housewife who'd just had an affair with the gardener and was trying to avoid meeting her husband's suspicious eyes.

Oh God, had he just come up with that fucked up analogy?

There was seriously something very, very wrong with him today. Accepting a deal from that outright weird shop owner and his sleazy female companion (he highly doubted that they were anything near a certified married couple), without even knowing who the two kids he was taking in were like. For all he knew the younger one was a drug dealer in the underground world and could shoot him in the head faster than one of the penguin men could (ah, but he would never know, would he?), and the girl was some psychotic bitch who took pleasure in pulling the guts out of orange-headed males… Then again there was just that single problem that stood out in stark contrast from the rest, like a drop of paint in a paint palette of water.

Rukia. He realized he still didn't know her last name. She was infuriating him, confusing him, messing up his life (not that he _had_ one before) and leeching on his nightly salary that fluctuated from new highs to new lows. Oh yes, don't forget the most important bit: kissing him and making everything flip inside out again, when he'd thought he had gotten control over things. And why in the hell was he letting her do this to him? Why of course, it was just because of that piece of shiny metal she hung at her waist so casually, the detestable _thing_ that she pointed at an important part of his anatomy when she wanted something, usually something ridiculous like a Chappy the bunny stuffed toy.

But deep inside his head, Ichigo knew that he could deal with a stupid old gun. After all, he _had _lived in the streets for five years, hopping from one gang to another and learning all sorts of things normal teenagers didn't learn and probably didn't want to learn, judging by the way the gangs taught stuff to kids. It was a "I'll show you, then you'll show me" kind of education, in which one senior would pick a random unfortunate guy roaming about in the streets and drive a bullet through his head, then hand the pistol to you to do the same to another unfortunate victim on the pathways. Subconsciously, the orange-head grimaced. He didn't notice Rukia's flinch as his face contorted into one of pain and disgust, because it so happened that she had reached out to flick his forehead when the scene of killing an innocent man flashed across Ichigo's mind.

Hmm, maybe he didn't like her at all. He was probably just attracted to her because she was different from anyone he had encountered so far, and because she had an air of mystery around her. Hmph, fucking aura of mystery indeed, she snorted to herself. The only reason why she was wanted was because she knew many secrets about the company that some of her brother's subordinates had never even heard of throughout their period of service (which were usually quite long periods of time, unless they were killed first), and she was refusing to expose more about herself because she didn't want Ichigo to get involved in her own fucked up family matters. Damn, she cursing so often – must be the influence from that stupid guy with a name that sounded like a strawberry (she would never admit that she found it rather cute).

"Oi, Ichigo. Stop ignoring me, you asshole," she muttered, tossing her glass at the bartender, who caught it easily but glared at her.

"Matsumoto's going to have my head if I break another glass in less than an hour," he replied her, still frowning. "And I'm not ignoring you, I'm just giving you time to think about what the hell just happened just now and how you played a major role in messing things up."

"How I played a major role my ass. You sound like my father, for God's sake! Besides, _you_ were the one who agreed to the deal, I merely gave you my opinion because I was staying with you after all! Don't go blaming others for your own mistakes, Mr. Kurosaki," Rukia shot back, her irritation at being ignored showing clearly in her tone of voice. She was in a foul mood today and she intended on letting the world know about it.

Ichigo didn't reply. Once again, he was stuck in his thoughts of why the thought of Rukia leaving him terrorized him so much and left his internal organs twisted into a miserable state. He had to admit that he'd taken her in because he'd thought she was pretty, and because he just couldn't leave a battered girl out in the open for vultures to pick on her (it didn't occur to him that the city did not have vultures). Once a Kurosaki, always a Kurosaki. His father had been a doctor in a clinic, and they saved lives – it was natural instinct for them to want to take in injured beings to nurse them in their care. He'd intended to bandage her up, and then send her trotting off home the next morning.

But somehow they'd managed to end up in the same bed, and when they got up, she was pointing a gun at him. A dangerous-looking one, at that. Fully loaded as well. Indeed, she had been rather menacing (and still was, actually), even for a petite woman like this. He remembered the saying, "Never judge a book by its cover," and then mentally slapped himself for thinking of the clichéd phrase. Anyway, she'd managed to make him do things for her with that stupid weapon, and they actually had fun. I mean, when was the last time he'd stepped into an arcade with another person? Besides, the running from the penguin men kept his life from becoming too mundane. Of course, the occasional change in people coming after Rukia had been a shock, but since he had strange and helpful neighbors, they'd managed to get over the ordeal quite unscathed, and he'd earned a kiss from her soft, pink lips (and now he was getting carried away, again). So it'd been worth it.

And he realized that he was going in circles. There was still no answer to the single question that lingered in his mind and refused to go away.

"Why did you take her in, Ichigo? Why aren't you letting her go back to where she belongs?"

He took her in because she had him under her control. Okay, so that theory was flawed, since he could handle guns. Right, let's start all over again. The first step he'd taken was to listen to his instincts of nursing the injured person, nothing more, nothing less. And then he hadn't thought about her staying on. But now, if he let her go, she would die. And then he would die. No, not because he would go commit suicide because his lover had died – he hadn't fallen to such a terrible standard yet. No, he would die of guilt since his whole life had been a whole guilt trip and he couldn't take much more on his conscience anymore.

Great, he'd thought of relevant and pretty rational reasons to justify Rukia living under his roof! He had no idea why he was so happy about it. But somehow, at the back of his mind, something kept nagging at him; something that kept telling him that those reasons were fucked up and were there because he need something to tell him that it wasn't wrong of him to keep her by his side, in his apartment, at his workplace, everywhere. Except on Sundays, but that was another matter altogether.

"Earth to Ichigo!" Rukia called out, waving a pale hand in front of his face. He'd been gazing off into space with that frown on his face again. Orange eyes blinked as he turned to face her, looking a little startled (the expression of "startled" for Ichigo was probably more like "I'm going to kill you" for an ordinary person, but Rukia was used to it already, because someone she knew was like this too, to a certain extent). The sudden intensity of his orange pools staring into her violet ones left her feeling just a teeny bit distraught and she had to keep herself from wringing her hands. "Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked huffily, to mask the embarrassment in her tone. He didn't notice.

He didn't notice, because he'd just bumped into a stunning revelation, one that he should have foreseen a while ago. As she glared at him from under her raven bangs, he felt himself reaching out to brush the hair out of her eyes, more gently than he'd ever done before.

Oh fuck, he'd fallen head over heels for this girl. This girl that he barely knew, but felt like he'd known her for eons already. Perhaps she was an enchantress and the gun was her wand. Dude, where was he coming up with all this shitty, nonsensical analogies? Then he felt a painful sensation from his fingertips and realized she was biting his hand and calling him a lecher.

Who was the one using sexual innuendo, what with sticking her tongue out and pouting and now sucking on his fingers! He yanked his hand back and swore at her, then she swore back, and everything returned to its normal pace.

He now knew why he'd taken her into his care, and why he didn't want to let her go despite the torture she was putting him through (he sort of liked it actually, in the masochistic way). Ever heard of "love and first sight"? Damn it, he would've laughed at it if he hadn't experienced it himself. For now, he wouldn't ask for reciprocation (although she'd shown a slight bit of interest by returning his kiss), and he didn't care about whatever crappy past she had.

She was with him, and he was with her. That was all that mattered, for now.

"Shut up and go home so you can think about the sum we should charge Urahara for the two kids. We're going to burn a hole in his pocket for all I care."

Hell, they were already sounding like husband and wife.

_To be continued. _

---

_To readers: I know quite a number of you have been asking about why Ichigo doesn't chase Rukia out with a wooden spoon (don't ask me where I got that imagery from), and I hope this chapter explained his reasons. He's still kinda confused, really. Anyway, since this chapter was more of an explanatory sort of chapter, it can be considered a transitional chapter? Hopefully next chapter will have more interaction between Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Ichigo and Rukia. I have an angst-ridden chapter written out already, but that's still way off, I think. For now, it's numbered VIII. Please review, even though I've been so slow in updating? –holds out cookies for bribery- XD_

_Not so many individual responses this time, because I really need to be getting to bed. _

_Thanks to: **hitsugaya-kun, kurenoharu, RevFF, Kuro- Ippikiookami21, ElusiveCat, AnimeObsessionFantasy, rukiaprincess, Chibirebel and ldybookiie, Alamandorious, Scottie-195, jiaxi, Tsuri Kato, Bronwen Stx, disillusiond, notnow, PlacidSnowflake, bubblegum, Tehyie, Anonymus, lonely-dreamlover, Middy, Cringe, T, KagomeHigurashi66, openwindow**_

_**Nelia-chan:** I am so sorry for confusing you last chapter. Some editing has been made after receiving you review; maybe you'd like to take a look? Gomen ne! _

_**darkfire22:** Hmm, a reason indeed. –smiles- XDD _

_**Sasha:** Hey Sasha! –waves- Kraddy here, in case you haven't realized. XD Thank you for reviewing! –gives cookie- _

_**Rabid Lola:** We all know what Gin's there for. He's there to DRESS UP AS YACHIRU AND HOP ABOUT SINGING ABOUT LALALAND! –ahem- Sorry for the sudden outburst. XD Well, he's definitely there for a reason that will help in the storyline! (:_

_**Anonymous:** When I saw the word HORRIBLE, I felt my heart skip a beat! Thank God you were just kidding. (:_

_**Kirby:** You definitely need a special mention, because you gave me THREE reviews! –gives more cookies- And your latest one really spurred me on to finish this chapter. (: _

_**LukeShaehl:** Wow, the longest review so far! –gives you a BIG cookie- Thank you for the constructive criticism! Earlier on in Chapter IV (I think), I stated that they'd been staying together for three weeks already, but I guess that was way too brief. Hopefully this chapter will help in answering your questions? Also, I hadn't realized that Zaraki had not spoken throughout the whole chapter. Yes, it's rather freaky. XD As for Renji, when Rukia first met him in canon, she wasn't very pleased to see him either, so I was sort of trying to adapt to canon when she "spat" at him. But overall, you review really helped me to think further and try to produce better results! _

_**Zyzychyn:** I can't write anything but AU… XD_

_**Jeebus dirtface:** Actually, LukeShaehl wrote the longest review, but I really appreciate yours too! –gives frosted cookies- _

_**Violetctm:** Nope, I don't have a fanclub! But you don't know how happy your comment made me! –hands you a chocolate-chip cookie- _

_**Agent Mofo:** OOC stands for Out Of Character, AU stands for Alternate Universe, and IC is Into Character! Hope these clarified your doubts. _

_P.S. Hope I didn't miss anyone out! Please tell me if I did. The spacing might be a little wonked because it's always like that. ): _


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